A landmark Supreme Court case is a case which was extremely important and played a pivotal role in shaping American life. Examples of these cases are: Brown v. Board of education which ended segregation in the South, Mapp v. Ohio which established that evidence obtained illegally cannot be used in trial against a person, or Roe v. Wade which legalized abortion in the United States.
Research a Supreme Court landmark case that interests you. Then write a 5 page research paper providing a detailed summary of the case. In the first portion of your page you should provide a summary of the CRIMINAL CASE which eventually led to the defendant appealing (bringing the case) all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States. ( For example, which crime did the defendant commit, what was the defendant arrested for, what was the trial like and the final conviction and sentence?) In the second portion of the paper, provide a summary of the Supreme Court’s decision on the matter. For full credit, make sure you answer the following questions:
-What happened that led the case to be appealed and eventually make it to the Supreme Court?
-What was the Supreme Court’s decision? How many justices ruled in favor and how many dissented (did not agree with the court’s decision)? Which justices ruled in favor and which disagreed with the court’s ruling? Was there a written dissent?by whom? what was the argument on which the dissent was based?
-What argument did the Court offered for their decision, in other words why did they rule the way they did?
-Did the Court cite cases which preceded your case in their decision? Which ones? Did they build on those cases or completely went in the other direction?
-Has there been any recent rulings by the court which have reversed or cited your case in the years after your case was decided?
-Do you support or disagree with the court’s decision? Explain why? (NOTICE, THIS IS THE ONLY PORTION OF YOUR PAPER WHERE I WANT YOU TO INCLUDE YOUR OPINION AND PERSONAL THOUGHTS, THE REST OF THE PAPER SHOULD HAVE REFERENCES ATTACHED TO THE INFORMATION YOU ARE PRESENTING, AND I MEAN EVERY SINGLE SENTENCE)
An excellent paper will be first and foremost be written in a clear and concise manner. Free from spelling and grammar errors and in a way which the information flows in the most articulate way for the reader. Your paper must be 5 pages long, this can include the references/work cited page or this can be your 6th page. You will not be penalized for going over one or two pages but you better not be rambling or being redundant (repeating information you already provided earlier in your paper)
Your paper should be turned in in either Calibri or Times New Roman 12 point font and double spaced. Type “AJ-101 Spring 2021” in the left corner header and your “last name, first name” on the right top corner header. Type the page number in the right bottom footer section. (See example in the announcements page) Do not include and abstract, or any other information or you will loose points.
Your paper should have at least five works cited or references and at least two of these should come from peer reviewed journals, scholarly articles and or published works. (this means a google search most likely didn’t lead you to these works. Do not cite non-academic websites, wikipedia, youtube or any other website not affiliated with a serious legal or academic institution. You will receive 2 points of extra credit for each day that your paper is submitted before the deadline. This is meant to deter you from procrastinating too much and turning in a paper you wrote last minute and did not even proofread. Your paper is due on February 28th by midnight. You will lose 10 points each day your paper is late. I will post some tips on the announcements page and we will also discuss any questions you may have on our Zoom meetings.
For examples of what is a LANDMARK Supreme Court visit the following website:
https://www.constitutionfacts.com/content/supremecourt/files/supremecourt_landmarkcases.pdf (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)
For those of you interested in a Law Enforcement career i recommend the following landmark cases:
Miranda v. Arizona
Mapp v. Ohio
Gideon v. Wainwright
Graham v. Connor
Terry v. Ohio
